Local heavy industry shines

With riverine topography and crisscrossed waterways, Bangladesh has been a shipbuilding hotspot since the Mughal era – a perennial tradition that has got a classic touch in modern shipbuilding venture.

Even until recently, the country was better known as a shipbreaker, which has gradually turned out to be a shipbuilder, particularly for domestic purposes and is making name in the heavy industry.

A 100-feet long ship, which is seen standing on the bank of the river Buriganga, is being made with the capacity of carrying around 1.5 lakh liters of oil. This oil tanker will be delivered within a month.

Located at Charkaliganj in Keraniganj which is popularly known as Baby Saheb Dock, the shipbuilding company Haque Ship Builders has made the local ship at a cost of around Tk 1 crore.

Owner of the company Nazmul Haque, however, hinted that the overall building cost might increase a bit more after fine-tuning.

Earlier, such ships were imported from abroad, but now all domestic and coastal ships-- lighter ships, passenger ships, cargo ships and oil tankers are built in the country.

“As the capacity of our shipbuilding industry is growing fast, we are now able to meet the demand for our domestic ships,” Nazmul said while talking to The Business Post.

“We don’t only build ships but also repair both local and foreign ships and provide other services.”

Around two to three lakh people are directly or indirectly involved in this sector for their livelihood while around 100 small and large ships are built every year.

The annual market size of this shipbuilding industry is around Tk 1000 crore to Tk 1200 crore.

The cargos, coaster ships and luxury passenger launches are now made at the shipyards in Keraniganj and some areas of Narayanganj apart from Chattogram and Khulna shipyards.

Besides, old ships and launches are repaired in these dock areas.

A sense of pride enthralls the shipbuilders when they say a number of shipbuilding companies have built and exported ships to different countries.

“As we have ability, we will be able to build ships at a much lower cost locally, but we need some sort of cooperation from the government for further development of the industry,” said Nazmul, also the president of Dhaka Ship Builders Group, a platform of 70 to 72 shipbuilding contractors and companies.

Normally, the shipbuilders rent docks on a weekly or monthly basis to carry out construction or renovation of the ships.

During a recent visit to Khejurbagh, Doleshwar, Charkaliganj, Begunpatti and Kautail areas of Keraniganj , it was found that around 20-25 shipyards and dockyards were set up along the Buriganga rivers.

Workers are also seen busy constructing or renovating cargo ships and launches in almost every yard.

Most people are doing this business without any educational background. However, they have developed skills through working in this area for a long time.

Shipbuilders and Dockyard Owners Association president Abdul Kader said all kinds of ships with different categories are now being made locally. Our home-built ships are capable of carrying goods around 3,000 to 4,000 tons.

“If most accessories required for building a ship are available, we are even able to build a ship between six months and a year,” said Kader.

While talking about raw materials and engines, he said there is a shipbreaking industry in Chattogram from where we usually collect the ship’s plates which are reusable. In some cases, raw materials are also imported while engines are mostly imported from China.

Regarding permission to build a ship, Nazmul Haque said it is necessary to get prior permission from the Department of Shipping to build a ship from the authorities concerned.

Md Manjurul Kabir, chief engineer and ship surveyor of the Department of Shipping, told The Business Post they give clearance for the ships to ply only if they are built according to the plan, which is earlier approved.

Though the shipbuilding company owners, contractors, as well as workers could not give any accurate statistics on the total number of small, medium and large ships in Bangladesh, the number is not less than a lakh.

According to the Department of Shipping, the number of different types of inland water vessels is about 12,959 till November 2020.

Of them, 839 are passenger vessels while 4,088 cargos and 333 oil vessels.

On the other hand, the number of different types of sea-going vessels is about 14,948.

Of them, 47 are ocean-going ships, 124 are coastal ships while 24 container ships, 208 tankers and 25 passenger ships, according to the Department of Shipping.

During a visit to a dockyard in Doleshwar, around 30 to 40 workers were seen busy with the construction of a ship.

One of the workers named Shariful Islam said managers or foremen in the company work on a monthly salary basis. However, the workers work on a daily wage basis which ranges from Tk 400 to Tk 1,000 per day depending on their skill and expertise.

Another worker Mohammad Masud said, “We are working on shipbuilding, but we do not use safety gear, and there is no insurance in case of any loss or injury to us. The government should pay attention to this site.”

Many backward linkage small industries have been set up in the vicinity of the dockyard to supply the ships’ wings, wheels and other spare parts with a focus to help the industry.

Mohammad Shamim, manager of Neptune Engineering, told The Business Post he does a variety of engineering work including making the ships’ wing holder sheaf, dare chain lowering lever.

There are over 100 such factories involved with selling different parts of ships like him in this Keraniganj area.

A worker Zakir Hossain, who works for generator or machine operation, said, “Though I don’t have any educational or vocational degree, I know everything relating to the machinery work as I have gained my expertise by doing practical work for a long time.”

Mohammad Apu, foreman and manager of a factory that makes ship fans, said they make ship fans of different sizes which are sold at different prices.

Prices range from Tk 5,000 to Tk 1 lakh depending on the types. They do business worth Tk 30 lakh to Tk 40 lakh a year.

Ship owner Liaquat Hossain Limon said his business has gone through a very critical time as many ships still remain idle because of Covid-19 pandemic fallout.

The owners and workers have demanded that the ships over the age of 30 should not be allowed to operate in the country. They fear that the development of this industry might be bogged down.

“If a ship over 30 years old is scrapped, a new ship will be built. This is the livelihood tying up the owners and workers of small factories and large shipbuilding industry,” they explained to The Business Post.

It was found in a field visit that various heavy metals and oils directly drain out to the river from these industries. Besides, the dockyards are occupying important places on the river bank, which is ultimately obstructing naval traffic movement from Sadarghat, the main river port of Dhaka.

In response to a question, Deputy Director (Dhaka District) Zahirul Islam Talukder, Department of Environment, told The Business Post that they could launch an inquiry only after an application that seeks environmental clearance before setting up any shipbuilding industry.

“We give environmental clearance to them when we find everything okay in terms of environmental pollution. And if their compliance is not satisfactory, we don’t issue any clearance certificate. We also take legal action against those yards if we find any irregularities,” he claimed.

Bangladesh Cargo Vessel Owners’ Association president Hazi Iqbal Hossain said the Keraniganj shipyards are busy all year round as the country’s economy is growing in line with rising imports and exports.

Many ships are now being built each year, but Keraniganj shipyard lacks enough space.

“If there had been more space in the yard, it would be possible to build more ships only in Keraniganj,” Iqbal pointed out.

In reply to a query, state minister for shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury told The Business Post shipbuilding capacity in Bangladesh is increasing day by day. The ships worth thousands of crore of Taka were built in the last 12 years in Bangladesh.

“We didn’t have a dockyard before but now we have eight international-standard dockyards. The European market has opened up new opportunities for us. If we move positively in this sector, shipbuilding will add to our economy a lot,” said the junior minister.

Regarding the Keraniganj dockyard, Khalid has categorically said as Dhaka has expanded, so is Keraniganj becoming a part of it.

“Therefore, it is not an appropriate site for us to have dockyard there. It is not just because of the area, but for saving the river and its surrounding environment,” he argued.

“There are 31 legal dockyards as well as some illegal ones which we want to take to a suitable place. But we cannot remove all these dockyards hurriedly as we cannot spoil such a huge potential industry set up with big investment.”

Khalid, however, said they have asked all dockyard owners to come up with a proposal and then they would find a way out to address the issue.